Whilst out over the weekend for a friends birthday myself and my wife were chatting to a couple with a 5 and 7 year old who's birthdays were
coming up. They informed us that they were getting an ipad - I was quite surprised at this given the price of an ipad and age of the kids, however
fair enough, each to their own, I dont have kids, cant really comment etc. but what really took the biscuit was when they clarified they were getting
an ipad EACH!! 
WTF?! As I say we dont have kids yet, but is that really where things are at these days? If so I dread having my future children requesting such
things because every other kid at school has. I dont even have a tablet myself lol!!
So what are peoples views on this? Is this normal now lol? Of course it was justified with the usual weak 'its educational' argument.....so
is an abacus 
Im getting old....
[Edited on 4/2/13 by FASTdan]
I agree, we just finally caved in and bought my eldest daughter a tablet for Xmas, ,however it was a nexus 7 at 160 quid and she is 10. No way would I give a 5 year old a 400 quid iPad.
We have the wifes IPad in the house and it is shared between the 4 of us. The 2 year old is very proficient ( unlock and get to Lego App ) dont thing
I would be getting them one each as leaning to share is important IMHO. But if they both wanted one for christmas and were happy to use their money or
that from parents. I guess I would let them.
Regards
Agriv8
Its sadly not unusual!
I used to be a teacher and quite often saw this on a daily basis.
Its scarey how the kids learn how to use them too. My two year old asks for the ipad and knows how to look at pictures and how to watch the films
etc. I'm dreading the day he asks for his own.
You mention educational etc I bet most of the kids arent using them for educational reasons. Some parents will buy anything to shut up their children
for a bit.
Oli
im involved in education IT, and im its worst critic, the amount of reliance on it in education these days is ridiculous. to buy kids that age an ipad
each imo is stupid, they wont appreciate the value of them and it will just reinforce the total lack of face to face interaction that kids these days
seem to suffer from.
just my take on the situation and im sure others will disagree.
I don't have kids but I am from the computer generation, and I am worried that now you won't play with toys, you'll just have one
electronic device that you can do everything with, I'm sure it'll just end up being an excuse for not spending time with the children, give
them an electronic device for them to numb their brains on.
Buy them the equivalent price in lego and I promise you they will become excellent engineers!
We weren't even allowed TVs in our room as a child! Closest I got to electronics was a Nintendo Gameboy Colour!
quote:
Originally posted by snakebelly
im involved in education IT, and im its worst critic, the amount of reliance on it in education these days is ridiculous.
Went for a meal last week at a local boozer with my lad and 2 grandsons one of which bought his laptop with him and the other an ipad.
At the table next to us there were 4 kids each with ipads and iphones, so it seems the norm sad to say.
Cheers,
Bob
My kids are happy to occasionally use my £100 Kindle Fire.
Would I buy a child under 12 an Ipad? No.
But you are missing the point here. Its so that the parents can tell other people how great parents they are because they love them so much as to buy
them an Ipad each. imagine the therapy needed if they need to share. or god forbid have to 'make do' with an android.
My wifes friends bought their kids a netbook to share. She found this out by accident.
She has some other friends who have bought their kids ipads each. But she is told about this several times, mainly on facebook updates.
YAAAAAAWWWWNNNN.
£ 60 worth of Chinese tablet PC would probably do most kids.
I've got three kids and it is a constant battle. My eldest who is 10 has an Ipad, which was as an incentive for working so hard for his 11+. We
severely limit all the kids time on any computing / gaming device as they would just play them all day if left to their own devices.
The Ipad does get used as an ereader locked in guided access mode so no games can be played!
There is lots of peer pressure particularly amongst boys to have the the latest games system, and the cost of some of the games is horrendous - I
think Skylanders on the Wii costs best part of £300 just for the game and all the figures without the console!
If I could uninvent electronic games I would.
Stu
3 kids, 7, 4 and 4. They would be on my work iPad all day if allowed and if not that then SWMBOs Nexus 7 or either of our phones playing angry birds.
Screen time is strictly rationed and generally a reward for homework or good behavior.
As to buying them iPads or similar, not at this age!
My 2 year old already knows how to unlock by tab2, find youtube and and play humpty dumpty with virtually no assistance. Its another world now - I personally couldnt justify the cost for 1 pad each though!
Last time I went on Holiday the wife said why don't you take your iPad no says I it might get damaged or stolen. While waiting at customs in front of us were two young kids under 10 both playing on their iPads !!!
Technology has advanced significantly from the good old abacus, and the iPad has a lot of educational properties, though there are cheaper
alternatives.
The way i see it, is if we dont get our kids involved with the modern technology, then it will overtake them and they will struggle in later years.
For example, there are quite a few people of my generation that dont know how to use computers, and there is a lot of "Don't understand
T'Computers" because of a lack of exposure or willingness to understand them.
My kids have computers and can use my iPad when i let them, though mine is more of a work toy rather than carrying a laptop and notebook as we all
used to 5 years ago, and without a doubt it is benefiting them with the computer / internet focused educational system that has changed from when we
were at school. Everything has moved on, so they (we) need to move with it, unfortunately.
More money than sense by the sound of it
Unfortunately many many kids growing up now, know the price of everything and the value of nothing!
I need to get another ipad, as since buying one for myself, i have yet to use it!!
Bloody wife has it 24/7, and gets the hump, if i want to use it/take it to work etc
As for my 2 yr old Grandaughter, using it, shes probably better than me!!
We've got an iPad Mini and an iPad 2 which our 2yo uses for puzzle games, watching Kids programmes, etc but I wouldn't buy one for her use solely. however it is her Birthday in a few weeks and we have just got her a leappad, which took her of all about 2 minutes to work out how to use it, frightning how quick they pick things up.
I got fed up with my kids arguing over my ipad. I purchased them both a galaxy tab 2 for christmas. One is 5 and the other was 7 last week. There
are some great educational apps without a doubt. They also have an acer revo set up in tthe corner of the living room, which they both use freely.
Technology is advancing fast, and my 7 year old can connect to wireless networks and mount iso's on virtual drives!
I agree that I need to kick them out of the house to ride there bikes, kick a football, play on the park etc and get some fresh air!
We have an iPad between us. My 4 year old can use it well but it's kept out of arms reach unless he is being supervised. There's no way I'd give him one. Even when he's a bit older he'll be rationed time on it.
My kids 7 and 9 got Chinese Androids for Christmas.
I even had a small moan at the wife regards the Idea.
But now they have the, I have come round to the idea.
I have also built them their own PC for the from donated and spare parts.
Can not believe how fast the learn.
My eldest (9) has down's syndrome. and even he has surprised me how much he has learnt.
But there use is regulated, and they still get a lot of out door play.
Our national elections are due on the 9th of March.
The two main political parties here in Malta are trying to outdo each other in handing out freebies, tablets being one of them.
First we had the Labour Party making their announcement: Labour
to give tablet computer to all Year IV children
This was followed the very next morning by the Nationalist Party:
PN electoral programme highlights: tax cuts,
business incentives, tablets for students, night tariffs
[Edited on 4-2-2013 by acb2713]
Oh dear. Mmmmmm heres my 7 year olds list. 50cc petrol gokart, iPad , iPod touch, Nintendo 3ds xl ,Sony digital camera, Sony camcorder, laptop
computer, tv DVD combo and a nice little iPod dock forgot the wii and the ps3
[Edited on 4/2/13 by afj]
quote:
Originally posted by afj
Oh dear. Mmmmmm heres my 7 year olds list. 50cc petrol gokart, iPad , iPod touch, Nintendo 3ds xl ,Sony digital camera, Sony camcorder, laptop computer, tv DVD combo and a nice little iPod dock
[Edited on 4/2/13 by afj]
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
quote:
Originally posted by afj
Oh dear. Mmmmmm heres my 7 year olds list. 50cc petrol gokart, iPad , iPod touch, Nintendo 3ds xl ,Sony digital camera, Sony camcorder, laptop computer, tv DVD combo and a nice little iPod dock
[Edited on 4/2/13 by afj]
My 9 yr old nephew writes his Xmas list of in the form of Argos,catalogue numbers!
My 7 year old son got a cheap second hand laptop for Christmas as he is coming home from school with homework that needs the internet. He plays games
on the CBBC website and has a few educational games. He has the use of a Wii but never uses it. He'd rather play the bus parking game on my
phone! My 3 year old daughter can play some simple games on the lappy and some drawing games on my phone. These devices are not left lying around for
them to play on whenever they choose and they are closely supervised. The TV is usually tune to kiddies programmes but once on, they rarely watch it,
unless you try to watch something else!! They'd rather slide the patio doors open and charge around in the garden.
They will spend a lot of time as grown-ups so we'd like them to be kids as long as possible. Too many parents buy these expensive items, which
the kids use as toys, just so the kids will sit down and shut up. My son still spends the majority of his inside playtime building stuff with his Lego
Technic.....and my daughter likes to leave dolls and prams anywhere that causes a trip hazard...
My boys ( aged 9 & 11 ) had Galaxy Tabs for Christmas (yes, one each). Initially, they hardly put them down , but a couple of months on and their
usage has settled down a bit. I can see how people have a problem with them, but sometimes the problems are just down to a lack of parental control
and not the devices themselves. I am sure parents were having the same arguments about TVs, Atari 2600s, ZX Spectrums, Walkmans ( walkmen ?),
Nintendo DS, etc, etc. when they first appeared. If you are the sort of parent that let their children watch hours of telly just to get a bit of
peace, then it is not the telly’s fault if your children have problems. Same goes for tablets. It’s always easy to blame someone else for our own
failings.
As for cost, the boys and I discussed it beforehand, and they do understand the value. The “how much do we spend on food per month?” type questions
gave them a sense of perspective. In the end we did spend more than we would normally (and I’m usually pretty tight-ar$ed), but it was less than a
new bike, or decent trainset or scalextrix set (and Xbox, Wii U or laptop) and the price of software is less than a DS, Wii or Xbox game. (don’t get
me started on the price of skylanders!!!)
I think it is all about life style balance. I can only speak for my kids; they are active ( they play rugby, have tennis lessons, race cross-country
and cycling events and finish at the top end of the results, and are always on the garden trampoline). They are in the upper end of their class
academically, and are pretty polite and well balanced ( if you ignore the onset of teenage-ness in the older one !?!). They are certainly not perfect,
but I’m doing my best.
They probably watch less TV now, and cherry-pick their viewing through iPlayer on the tablet.
They get internet based homework that they can do on the tablet. (e.g. maths games for the younger one and general research for the older one)
They read books on their tablets.
They skype their friends and have gained a wider circle of friends that they interact with this way. ( not all our friends are local )
On long car journeys they have listened to music on them and generally occupied their time with them.
As an illustration, the 9y.o. just got some Lego as a belated present from my brother. He built the model and then got his Tablet, downloaded a free
app and made a stop-frame animation of a story using the Lego. It was pretty good, and when he finished he could then email the resulting video back
to his uncle as part of a thank-you message. I’m pretty geeky so I think that is pretty cool !
- they are just tools to be used, and it is the parents job to guide their use.
quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
Everything has moved on, so they (we) need to move with it, unfortunately.
quote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by MakeEverything
Everything has moved on, so they (we) need to move with it, unfortunately.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yes but are they even getting the IT skills they might need from a tablet ??
the things (especially ipads) are designed to be as simplistic as possible so they'll never learn how they actually work under the skin
It was lego followed by mechano for me and bikes for my brother (back in the 80's) - I design structures for a living and he fixes tractors (and rides his bikes in his spare time)
as for IT a lot us had bbc's and ZX spectrums to play with at some point even if it was just at school
its this basic level of IT skill without the fancy idiot proof pre-programed OS and touchscreen that kids are missing now
(the point of the raspberry pi is to try and correct this massive skill gap)
its just like modern cars - how many people in this country drive cars and how many really understand how they function and how to fix them ?
(obviously quite a lot of folk on here, but the rest of the population)
the most worring thing I've been hearing recently is that some of the kids can hardly write by hand
I won't have Apple products in the house so if I had kids they'll have a hard time of it!
Being bullied for not having the fashionable clothes, shoes, kit is good for the soul anyway!
We have an iPad in the house that my wife uses for work.
When we were chatting to the salesman in the shop, he turned and noticed my 5 year old son was playing with a game that he didn't even know was
on there. Partly because kids are so switched on to technology now, and partly because iPads are so intuitive to use.
We don't let him use it for long periods, and I'd think twice about spending that kind of money on getting him his own. However, the time
will come when he will ask because while kids have an exceptional grasp for technology, they have no clue about the value of money yet (I'm
teaching him about that though).
quote:
Originally posted by whitestu
I don't think the two are linked. My lad loves his Apple stuff but also has got a Raspberry pi up and running and is now working out how to get Android on it.
"I won't have Apple products in the house so if I had kids they'll have a hard time of it! "
James, you grumpy old git!! i can see why you get into so many fights now
But i have to say, a year ago, i was of the "i dont want any "i" products, as im sick of hearing bla bla bla about them,
But, when my old Nokia failed, and i could not get anything that suited my needs, and poor eyesight, so needed a bigger screen, i got an iphone, and
after using that, from everything from a phone to a digital speedo for my 7, i can see the benifits
Also, years ago i bought a laptop, for when we go away caravan etc, but the whole setip was a real pita, and cumbersome
so an Ipad it was, and that is the perfect choice
I only went down the i route, instead of generic, as both kids have, and my daughter in law, and most of the lot i work with so help was there if
needed, but quite a few have gne over to generics now
To be honest, i never really needed there help
Steve
A year ago, i didnt even know what generic, or 3g was !!!!!!!!!!!!!
for the record the main thing I have against apple is the price
and the only other thing is a certain minority of the owners
(you know the ones that have to be seen to have one and go on about them all the time, much like the ones the OP is talking about - that is
when they arn't talking about the new audi A1 / RS3 / A5 they just got 
)
were actually going to get my dad an ipad as we recon its the only one simple enough for him to use 
quote:when my old nokia failed (broken charger plug) I got another broken one off ebay and made one good one out of the two
Originally posted by steve mwhen my old Nokia failed, and i could not get anything that suited my needs
Here in SA my 12 yr old must have a tablet for school, many schools are going text book free. All the parents had to buy them! That's about 400 new iPads !